Tm-Based Downshifting Nanoprobes with Enhanced Luminescence at 1680 nm for In Vivo Vascular Growth Monitoring.

Optical imaging in the 1500-1700 nm region, known as near-infrared IIb (NIR-IIb), shows potential for noninvasive in vivo detection owing to its ultrahigh tissue penetration depth and spatiotemporal resolution. Rare earth-doped nanoparticles have emerged as widely used NIR-IIb probes because of their excellent optical properties. However, their downshifting emissions rarely exhibit sufficient brightness beyond 1600 nm.

Seasonal variation and human impacts of the river biofilm bacterial communities in the Shiting River in southeastern China.

Bacterial communities in epilithic biofilm plays an important role in biogeochemistry processes in freshwater ecosystems. Nevertheless, our understanding of the geographical and seasonal variations of the composition of bacterial communities in the biofilm of gravels on river bed is still limited. Various anthropogenic activities also influence the biofilm bacteria in gravel rivers.

In Vivo High-Contrast Biomedical Imaging in the Second Near-Infrared Window Using Ultrabright Rare-Earth Nanoparticles.

Intravital luminescence imaging in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) enables noninvasive deep-tissue imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution of live mammals because of the properties of suppressed light scattering and diminished autofluorescence in the long-wavelength region. Herein, we present the synthesis of a downconversion luminescence rare-earth nanocrystal with a core-shell-shell structure (NaYF@NaYbF:Er,Ce@NaYF:Ca). The structure efficiently maximized the doping concentration of the sensitizers and increased Er luminescence while preventing cross relaxation.

Narrowband photoblinking InP/ZnSe/ZnS quantum dots for super-resolution multifocal structured illumination microscopy enhanced by optical fluctuation.

Cadmium-free quantum-dot (QD) fluorophores can bridge the gap between the macroscopic and microscopic domains in fluorescence super-resolution bioimaging. InP/ZnSe/ZnS QD photoblinking fluorescent probes can improve the performance of reactive super-resolution imaging techniques and spontaneously switch fluorophores between at least two states (open and close) without depending on intense laser light and specialized buffers for bioimaging. Multifocal structured illumination microscopy (MSIM) provides a two-fold resolution enhancement in sub-diffraction imaging, but higher resolutions are limited by the pattern frequency and signal-to-noise ratio.

Snapshot temporal compressive light-sheet fluorescence microscopy via deep denoising and total variation priors.

We present a snapshot temporal compressive light-sheet fluorescence microscopy system to capture high-speed microscopic scenes with a low-speed camera. A deep denoising network and total variation denoiser are incorporated into a plug-and-play framework to quickly reconstruct 20 high-speed video frames from a short-time measurement. Specifically, we can observe 1,000-frames-per-second (fps) microscopic scenes when the camera works at 50 fps to capture the measurement.

Isomeric Ir(iii) complexes for tracking mitochondrial pH fluctuations and inducing mitochondrial dysfunction during photodynamic therapy.

Mitochondrial pH is known to be alkaline (near 8.0) and has emerged as a potential factor for mitochondrial function and disorder. Here we investigate two pairs of isomeric phosphorescent Ir(iii) complexes (1-4) that show mitochondrial pH-responsive properties and induce mitochondrial dysfunction during photodynamic therapy.

Genipin-crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibroin/nano-hydroxyapatite hydrogel for fabrication of artificial cornea scaffolds-a novel approach to corneal tissue engineering.

Design of artificial corneal scaffolds substitute is crucial for replacement of impaired cornea. In this paper, porous polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibroin/nano-hydroxyapatite (PVA/SF/n-HA) composite hydrogel was prepared via the genipin (GP) cross-linking, the pore diameter of the hydrogel ranged from 8.138 nm and 90.

A phosphorescent iridium probe for sensing polarity in the endoplasmic reticulum and in vivo.

The polarity of a cell is the feedback of a series of complex mechanisms that establish and maintain functionality of particular domains. Many cellular processes involved in the spatial arrangement and protein composition such as differentiation, localized membrane growth, activation of the immune response, directional cell migration, and vectorial transport of molecules across cell layers may lead to changes and development of polarity. In this work, a phosphorescent iridium complex was reported for sensitively probing environmental and cellular polarity.

Resolution improvement of multifocal structured illumination microscopy with sparse Bayesian learning algorithm.

Multifocal structured illumination microscopy (MSIM) is the parallelized version of image scanning microscopy (ISM), which uses multiple diffraction limited spots, instead of a single diffraction limited spot, to increase the imaging speed. By adding pinhole, contraction and deconvolution, a twofold resolution enhancement could be achieved in theory. However, this resolution improvement is difficult to be attained in practice.

Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of single-crystalline KNb3O8 nanowires.

Single-crystalline KNb(3)O(8) nanowires with widths of 100-300 nm and lengths up to tens of microns were synthesized by calcining Nb(2)O(5) powders in molten KCl and K(2)SO(4). The phase of the products was determined by means of x-ray diffraction, and the morphology and structure were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction techniques. The growth direction of the KNb(3)O(8) obtained was determined to be the [001] crystallographic direction.